Deadline: 10 January 2020

The Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants (SLF) is currently accepting applications to support legal work in the UK that goes beyond securing justice for an individual and makes a significant contribution to law, practice and procedures to uphold and promote the rights of vulnerable migrant children and young people more generally.

The SLF aims to tackle injustices and inconsistencies in law and practice that disadvantage or discriminate against vulnerable young migrants as a result of their migration status.

Aims

SLF aims to advance the general principles of the UNCRC as follows:

• The right to life, survival and development.
• The right to non-discrimination.
• Respect for the views of children.
• The requirement to give primary consideration to the child’s best interests in all matters affecting them.

Funding Information

• The total amount available for SLF grants from October 2017 to September 2020 is £450,000. Maximum funding for any one application will be £30,000 but, in view of the limited funding available, lower applications are encouraged.
• The average grant size is around £12,000.

Length of grants

The SLF aims to complement longer-term funding with short-term grants to respond to legal opportunities. The maximum grant length is 12 months, and most grants are for six months or less.

Areas of Law

• The SLF funds strategic legal work in any area of law where vulnerable young migrants experience disadvantage or discrimination as a result of migration status.
• This includes (but is not restricted to) potential cases in the areas of:
  • Immigration
  • Asylum and asylum support
  • Human rights
  • Education
  • Housing
  • Welfare benefits
  • Discrimination
  • Access to justice
  • Community care

Beneficiaries

The SLF supports strategic legal work in the UK which benefits vulnerable young migrants. They define this as:

• Migrants or the children of migrants,
• Who are under 25,
• Who are living in poverty, and
• Who face significant disadvantage or discrimination in connection with their (or their parents’) migration status

Eligibility Criteria

Those eligible to apply to the SLF are organisations based in the UK which are:

• Not-for-profit (NFP) organisations that provide specialist level legal advice to vulnerable young migrants. If applicants work for a NFP organisation regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) and are applying to undertake work in the asylum or immigration field, applicants must confirm that staff leading on the proposed work are accredited at Level 3, Advocacy and Representation, in the relevant category of law.
• Firms of solicitors that provide specialist level legal advice to vulnerable young migrants. Solicitors’ firms need to demonstrate that the funded work does not include any element of profit and, as for all applicants, that there is a pro bono element included.

Exclusions

In general, the SLF will not make grants where:

• Funding is sought for pre-litigation research on an issue where work is already in progress by other legal representatives.
• There is an unreasonably low prospect of a positive outcome for vulnerable migrant children and young people.
• The funding will not produce any significant positive change to the rights of vulnerable young migrants in the UK.
• The applicant is based outside of the UK. Partnership applications where the lead partner is based in the UK may be considered.
• It is judged that the goals of the application may be more successfully achieved through an alternative route e.g. policy work.
• Organisations have already received two grants from the SLF in the last 18 months except in exceptional circumstances.
• Organisations are in serious financial deficit.
• Not-for-profit organisations have significant unrestricted reserves (including designated funds). Generally, reserves up to the equivalent of six months’ expenditure is acceptable.

How to Apply

Applicants can apply via given website.

Eligible Country: United Kingdom

For more information, please visit http://strategiclegalfund.org.uk/how-to-apply/